Dress

Manufacturer Textile by James McCreary and Co., N.Y. American
1876–78
Not on view
An hourglass silhouette with a princess-seamed structure called the "cuirasse" was created with a high waist, just an inch or two under the bust. It was an upholstered, exaggerated shape achieved with a corset and a spoon busk to cup and re-form the abdomen. American dress reformers, many newly directed former anti-slavery advocates, came together in the 1870s in specific opposition to such deliberate body molding.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dress
  • Manufacturer: Textile by James McCreary and Co., N.Y. (American)
  • Date: 1876–78
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: silk
  • Credit Line: Gift of the Misses Faith and Delia Leavens, 1941
  • Object Number: C.I.41.58.1a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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